The seeds ('pinhões') of Brazilian pine (Araucaria angustifolia) represent an important sorce of income to the rural comunities and also an additional food product to be offered to the tourists and population in Southern Brazil. Temperature and humidity in the storage environment are the mais factors affecting 'pinhões' postharvest preservation. This work was carried out to evaluate the effects of storage temperature on postharvest respiration and ethylene production, as well as on fresh mass loss and germination of 'pinhões' intended for human consumption. The experiment followed a completely randomized design with six storage temperatures (2, 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50°C) and four replicates, each replicate with about 300g of 'pinhões'. 'Pinhões' stored at the different temperatures did not exhibit ethylene production (at levels detectable by gas chromatography, with a sensibility of 1ppm). The respiratory rates increased substancialy in the range from 2°C to 37.1°C, with a Q10 <FONT FACE=Symbol>@</FONT> 2.5. The respiration decreased substantialy by increasing the temperature from 37.1°C to 50°C. The higher germination rate was achieved for 'pinhões' stored at 20°C (~55% germination after 26 days storage). The germination reduced for 'pinhões' stored at temperatures lower (~1% and 21% of germination for 'pinhões' left at 2 and 10°C, respectively) or higher (9% and <1% of germination for 'pinhões' left at 30°C and 40-50°C, respectively) than 20°C. These results show the importance of 'pinhões' storage at temperatures close to 0°C to reduce the metabolic ativity, especially the respiration, and, therefore, to preserve the product quality and to reduce fresh mass loss and seed germination.
Brazilian pine; seed physiology; respiration; fresh mass loss; germination
